SPOKANE, Wash. — The head of the NAACP chapter in Spokane, Washington, is facing questions about whether she lied about her racial identity, with her family saying she is white but has portrayed herself as black.

Rachel Dolezal would not answer questions about her background in an interview with The Spokesman-Review newspaper.

“That question is not as easy as it seems,” she said Thursday. “There’s a lot of complexities. and I don’t know that everyone would understand that.”

Dolezal is president of the local branch of the civil-rights organization, an adjunct professor in the Africana Studies Program at Eastern Washington University and chairwoman of Spokane’s police overnight board. Mayor David Condon and City Council President Ben Stuckart say an inquiry is underway into whether she violated city polices when she listed herself as white, black and American Indian on her application for the Office of Police Ombudsman Commission.

Let’s see what Rachel has to say about this. skip to 7:50 Uh oh. That’s no bueno. Here’s a breaking message from black america!

Dolezal’s mother, Ruthanne, said the family is Czech, Swedish and German, with some Native American roots.

Ruthanne Dolezal said that she and her daughter have not been in touch for years but that Rachel Dolezal began to portray herself as African-American eight or nine years ago after the family adopted four black children.

You gotta hand it to her. Bravo, Rachel Dolezal, bravo! The irony here is amazing.